Vocabulary.com

Pillage

(V.) To pillage is a term of war that means to take everything of value from a place that you've conquered, but these days, pillage can be used to talk about anyone who takes what's not theirs. "Works of art were pillaged from many countries in the dark days of the Empire."

Proclaim

(v.) to declare publicly or officially. "I proclaim the Olympic Games open." Every two years with words similar to these, the Olympic games officially begin. To proclaim is to exclaim or declare. When you proclaim something, you are saying it loud and clear and in public. A doctor can proclaim you healthy after you have recovered from a long illness.

Fathom

(v.) to understand, get to the bottom of; to determine the depth of; (n.) a measure of depth in water. To fathom something is to understand it thoroughly, and is usually used in the negative, as in "I can't fathom why he doesn't want to go along with us."

Ballast

A ballast is any heavy material that helps to make a ship or plane stable, including metaphorical ships like your mood. If you hate school, the thought of a weekend coming might be a ballast for your mood. "A ship sailing with an empty hold will have filled its ballast tanks at its source port."

herpetologist

A herpetologist is someone who specializes in the study of reptiles and amphibians. If it slithers around on its belly, a herpetologist will know what it is.

Condition

A medical problem or illness can be referred to as a condition. Your skin condition isn't contagious, but it still looks bad — scabby and scaly. You won't even need makeup to dress as a zombie for Halloween. A condition is also a requirement or prerequisite for something. "As a condition of your acceptance to college, you may have to maintain certain grades and do well on a standardized test."

Promise

A promise is an agreement to do or not do something. Also, when you have potential, you show promise. Also, if you show promise playing the violin, maybe someday you'll play in an orchestra. VERB.

Account

Account is one of those seemingly simple words that have a mass of different meanings. An account can be a narrative or story — a biography, for example, is an account of someone's life. Account can also mean an explanation of something, as in the phrase, "How do you account for that?" An account is also a handy arrangement whereby a store agrees to provide you goods on credit, but then you might have to account for all that debt.

Effect

Effect is the result of an action, as in those "cause and effect" papers you might write in English class. Your topic could be how your late-night tuba playing (cause) has driven your roommate insane (effect). to achieve something and cause it to happen: "It will take years to effect meaningful changes in the educational system."

prow

If you're standing on the prow of a ship, you're on the front section, above the waterline. When Leonardo DiCaprio declared himself "King of the World" in the movie Titanic, he was standing on the prow of the doomed ship.

Blot

Mark. A blot is a dirty smudge, mark, or stain, like the giant blot of ketchup that remains on your shirt long after the hotdog-eating contest is over. Figuratively, a blot is something that dirties a person's reputation: "The scandal was a blot on the presidential campaign."

Booty

NOUN. An amount of money or things of value. Booty is treasure — money, jewels, and the like — obtained by criminal means, especially plundering or pillaging. If you're in the Caribbean on vacation, you could spend some time looking for buried pirate booty.

Stocks

NOUN/VERB. Supply and goods. Valores. Shares of ownership in a company. Stock is collective noun for the stuff a store or a company has to sell, be it toilet paper, automobiles or clothing. Many stores close once a year for a few days to do an inventory of their stock.

kinship

Noun. "He was of her blood and her line, yet in some way he seemed like an alien suddenly claiming kinship." "Your kin is your family, so it's easy to see that kinship describes family bonds, like the kinship between members of the same Scottish clan or the kinship an uncle feels in the midst of a dozen crazy nieces and nephews."

Runoff

Noun. A runoff is an additional election that resolves an inconclusive one. If there's a tie for class president, the candidates will need a runoff election to see who gets the job. A runoff is also an overflow of water.

Buccaneer

Noun. Buccaneer is another name for "pirate." When you're sailing the open sea, you might worry about a buccaneer who wants to rob your ship and possibly enslave your crew.

Scurvy

Noun. Vitamin C deficiency. If you are a pirate who doesn't get to shore very often to shop for fresh fruits and veggies, you might suffer from scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. The unpleasant associations of the word also make it a colorful (and archaic) way to describe something low-down and miserable, as in "that was a scurvy trick you played on me, you dastardly cur!"

Article

Noun/Verb. A piece of a collection of something is also an article, like an article of clothing. If you're talking grammar, definite and indefinite articles are words, such as a, an, and the, whose purpose is to indicate, specify and limit a noun. An article of faith is something that is firmly believed. And an article of organization or incorporation is a section of a legal document that sets out rules for a company.

Utter

The adjective utter is often used as an intensifier to mean "total" — often with negative connotations (like "utter failure"). As a verb, the word has a totally unrelated meaning: to speak or to articulate a sound. "What an utter fool I was!"

Keel

The extension of hull that increases stability in the water. The long piece of wood or steel put along the bottom of a boat from front to back that supports the frame.

spokes

The part of a wheel that connects the center of the wheel to its rim. Noun. The purpose of spokes is to support the structure of the wheel. You can jazz up your bike by weaving ribbons between the spokes.

Hoist

To hoist is to raise up or lift, like a crane or forklift would. You can hoist yourself up onto the roof to get a better view, or hoist your teammate onto your shoulders after she scores the winning goal. With some difficulty he hoisted her onto his shoulders. To lift something heavy, often with special equipment: "Tomorrow the final section of the bridge will be hoisted into place."

unfurl

To spread out or unfold. Desplegar. Verb. When you unfurl something, you unroll it or spread it out. Your yoga teacher will unfurl her long purple mat at the beginning of class.

Furl

VERB. Recoger. Roll or fold up and secure neatly (a flag, sail, umbrella, or other piece of fabric). "Let me just furl these burritos and then we can eat."

Backslide

Verb. Reincidir. To backslide is to revert to a worse state. If you've spent months breaking your bad habit of biting your nails, you'll have to care not to backslide. Backsliding is the opposite of making progress. "We say stand firm with the purpose and the mission and to hell with all those who may wish, for whatever reason, to backslide."

luxuriate

Verb. To luxuriate is to enjoy yourself extravagantly or to an extreme degree. Luxuriate can also mean to thrive, like a plant that grows wildly. To luxuriate is to enjoy yourself in a similar way, not necessarily by spending a lot, but by enjoying something to the fullest. Lying in the sun for hours is luxuriating. Reading in the bookstore for hours is luxuriating. "There's nothing better after a hard day's work than to luxuriate in a hot bath."

Marooned

Verb/Noun. To maroon is to strand someone in an isolated place, often a deserted island. Think of "Gilligan's Island," "Survivor," or "Lost" — TV shows that feature folks marooned on islands — and you've got the idea. If you maroon your best friend on a deserted island, in addition to being a terrible friend, you're using the word as a verb. My flight was canceled because of a snowstorm and I was marooned at the Denver airport. A sailor abandoned on a tiny island.

Stern

What does this have to do with the stern of a boat, also known as the rear area? The back end of a ship.

Careened

Whether it's an unsteady ship, a speeding bus, or a person who is woozy, use the verb careen to describe something that's teetering from side to side. Verb. The driver lost control of his car when the brakes failed, and it went careening down the hill.

Slosh

spill or splash copiously or clumsily. The 1800's meaning of slosh was "slush or sludge," and the Middle English definition was "muddy place," probably from a combination of slush and slop.